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Top Ten

Top Ten Reasons to Let the Export-Import Bank Expire

1. It Has Outlived Its Purpose
The Ex-Im Bank was founded 80 years ago by FDR to promote U.S. manufacturing during the Great Depression. Meanwhile, in the 2010s, U.S. exports have been setting record highs – they don’t need government help.

2. It Lets Government Pick Winners and Losers
Although Ex-Im claims to pick its recipients in a neutral manner, the reality is that political pressures strongly affect who receives its financial backing. For example, in 2009 the Obama administration gave Ex-Im a “green energy” quota for a portion of its loans.

3. Its Risky Loans Put it in Danger of Needing Taxpayer Bailouts
The Ex-Im Bank’s purpose is specifically to promote exports by guaranteeing companies loans that are not in competition with the free market. But if these companies can’t get loans on the free market, that means that they are inherently riskier than private lenders are willing to accept, with taxpayers on the hook if they fail. Ex-Im already needed a bailout once, in 1987, and with a history of making loans to companies like Solyndra it could happen again.

4. It Costs Taxpayers Money Annually
Thanks to government accounting gimmicks, the Ex-Im Bank claims that they don’t actually cost the government any money. But if you use the same true-value accounting that private companies must use, it turns out the Ex-Im will actually cost taxpayers $2 billion over the next decade.

5. Most of Its Funding Goes to Big Corporations Who Don’t Need the Money
An examination of Ex-Im’s books show that a large majority of Ex-Im’s financial backing goes to a small handful of multinational corporations (Boeing, General Electric, Caterpillar, Bechtel, etc.). These companies are massively profitable and certainly don’t need help from taxpayers to export their goods.

6. It Lets Foreign Corporations Undercut U.S. Competitors
What people see with Ex-Im is the exports that get subsidized and sold overseas. What they don’t see is how foreign corporations can use those cheaper goods them to undercut their U.S. competitors.

7. It Only Benefits a Few States, but Every State Bears the Costs
Just as the Ex-Im Bank only benefits a tiny fraction of the nation’s total exports, fewer than ten states have any significant amount of their imports subsidized by Ex-Im. Yet the citizens of every state must bear the costs.

8. It Is Prone to Corruption
Whenever you involve the government in handing out money, there’s a strong possibility corruption will ensue. Sure enough, several Ex-Im Bank officials are under investigation for allegedly taking kickbacks in exchange for steering loans to certain companies.

9. There Are Better Ways to Help U.S. Manufacturers
If the government wants to see U.S. jobs and exports skyrocket, it should lower and simplify the tax and regulatory burden U.S. companies face. Our corporate taxes are the highest in the developed world, which makes our businesses uncompetitive in a global economy.

10. It Is Unnecessary
Based on all of the above criteria, the Export Import Bank of the United States cannot justify its continued existence. It’s also one of the easiest programs to retire, as its authorization expires in September 2014 if Congress simply does nothing.

Last weekend, the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) met in Washington, DC to address the most important issues in America. Everybody who attended was well aware that free markets in America have been under assault by the federal government’s crony relationships with private corporations.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce the National Association of Manufacturers have organized a coalition representing some 700 business leaders to fly-in to Washington DC this week to lobby members of Congress to reauthorize the crony Export-Import Bank before June 30, when its current authorization expires.

The United States Export-Import Bank is a corporate welfare program that gives taxpayer-backed loans and subsidies to some of the country's largest corporations, like Boeing and General Electric, that are already...

The United States Export-Import Bank was founded in 1934 as yet another one of FDR’s misguided “New Deal” programs. For the past 80 years, the Bank has been an instrument of corporate welfare, handing out taxpayer-backed loans to big corporations and special interest projects, such as green energy.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank is one of the most blatant and indefensible examples of corporate cronyism by the federal government. Started 80 years ago as a protectionist, New Deal program, the Bank lingers on like a festering sore on America’s lip that just won’t heal - because Congress can’t leave it alone.

As one of our over 6.7 million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her not to co-sponsor H.R. 597, a bill that would reauthorize the Export Import (Ex-Im) Bank of the United States.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has a populist reputation of being anti-Wall Street. Last week, she nearly threatened to shut down the government because the Omnibus bill would repeal a section in the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that passed in 2010.

As the holiday season approaches, Americans are budgeting for Christmas presents, decorations, cards, and of course, lots of delicious food. At such moments, while we are pinching our pennies to maximize holiday cheer, it’s instructive to remember the ways in which government blows through our tax dollars with reckless abandon.

When the Export-Import Bank as well as its friends on Capitol Hill and elsewhere talk about how the billions it doles out in taxpayer-backed loans benefits small businesses, they really mean it helps big business. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Ex-Im, a relic of the New Deal, had "mischaracterized" subsidiaries of 200 large corporations as small businesses: